Higher Education retention rates in South Africa are among the lowest in the world. At the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, a trend has been noted for National Higher Certificate (NHC) students within the Faculty of Business and Economic Science’s School of Accounting. Dropout rates have increased and graduation rates have declined for students studying NHC programmes. Retention and dropout studies have rarely been undertaken for accounting students in higher certificate or diploma programmes, which provided the motivation for this study. The study aimed to determine the dropout and retention rates of NHC students and to identify the demographic and other characteristics of dropout students relative to those who persist with their studies. Furthermore, the study identified potential barriers to academic success in the sample. An exploratory descriptive research approach was adopted to achieve the general and specific aims of the study. Data were obtained from Management Information Services about NHC dropout students and students continuing with their studies for the period 2005 to 2009. Furthermore, information was gathered for separate samples from a Language Questionnaire and the Learning Enhancement Checklist (LEC) regarding barriers to student success. High dropout rates were found in that more than half of the students dropped out. Correspondingly, the retention rates were low. The findings for the gender, cultural and language groups were interesting but no definitive conclusions could be reached regarding trends related to student dropout and retention in relation to these biographical variables. Performance in Financial Accounting I and II yielded interesting trends. Students at risk for dropping out obtained a mark of 50 percent or less on average for Financial Accounting I and 40 percent or less for Financial Accounting II. The analysis conducted to determine barriers to student success revealed that students did not prepare adequately for lectures; experienced certain difficulties in lectures, tests and VIII exams; found it difficult to manage their studies and time; and experienced financial and psychological problems. The findings of the study can be used to identify students who might drop out at an early stage. Furthermore, the findings can guide the nature of the development and support that NHC students need to succeed. The limitations of the study are noted and suggestions are made for further research into the factors related to student dropout and retention in the field of accounting.

M.Phil. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Bibliography: pages 85-87. / A simplified cohort survival analysis was used to investigate the academic progression of first-time entering undergraduate students within four large bachelors' degree programmes at the University of Cape Town. The rates of graduation, academic exclusion and voluntary drop-out were quantified in relation to the matriculation authorities and prior matriculation performance of the students within each of the four cohorts. The results of the analyses served to identify specific areas of concern with regard to the internal efficiencies in student progression through each of the four degree programmes, and it is suggested that the availability of information of this type will be essential in the attainment of the institutional transformation goals set out in the 1997 White Paper on the transformation of higher education in South Africa. Significant relationships between the matriculation criteria and the final academic outcomes of students within each cohort were detected using log-near modelling. By means of multiple discriminant analysis, significant predictor variables of the final undergraduate academic outcomes within each cohort were identified. However, the relatively weak discriminatory powers of the multiple discriminant models and the poor predictive accuracy of the associated classification functions suggest the variables included in these analyses did not adequately explain the variability in the final undergraduate academic outcomes of students within the selected cohorts. The extent of the voluntary drop-out phenomenon within each of the cohorts was quantified in relation to matriculation criteria, and further analysis of the cohorts indicated that factors other than academic difficulty appeared to have prompted the greater proportion of the voluntary withdrawals. Those students who had dropped out voluntarily were therefore not included in either the log-linear models or the multiple discriminant analyses.

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Improving throughput rates is a key challenge facing South African higher education. Throughput rate is the number of students that can be produced over a period of time such as a semester or a year. Low throughput rates have a huge impact in funding higher education, because it determines how much funding organisations should invest in sponsoring students. Problems caused by low throughput rates include overcrowding of students in class, withdrawal of funding by funding organisations, reduction in the workforce of the country and poverty. The major objective of this study was to investigate the Business Intelligence (BI) components of the Integrated Tertiary Software (ITS), how it is used by universities to improve throughput rate.

This article investigates the impact of poverty and shocks on adolescents, particularly their role in early school drop-out. Data consisting of 3043 adolescent interviews and 1945 household interviews, from a recent survey entitled Transitions to Adulthood among Adolescents in Durban, South Africa, has been used. While conventional explanations of drop-out acknowledge the role of socio-economic factors, this paper attempts to understand, through an asset-vulnerability framework, the explicit contribution of poverty and shocks to drop-out in the South African context. The results indicate that the poverty-based theory of drop-out put forward, while appealing, does not fully account for drop-out. Instead, it would seem that among poor households the education of their children is seen as an asset that is to be protected. It is proposed that school feeding schemes be reconsidered as a social welfare tool to support poor households in their attempts to keep their children in school. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

In South Africa there is an increasing concern regarding retention among Black students (who constitute the majority of the population) in general and in particular regarding the costs of student failure to both the students and for the institution. This thesis endeavours to obtain an understanding of the socio-educational experiences which led to Black Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting Students in 2009 dropping out of Accounting III at the University of Fort Hare. In a field in which much of the literature is quantitatively orientated, a phenomenological investigation offered a unique way of understanding the experiences of the students as it allowed their voices to be heard. Insights contained in the data were synthesised and integrated into a consistent description of the essential nature of the experience, the primary endeavour of the phenomenologist being to transform naïve experience into more explicitly detailed conceptual knowledge. The use of in-depth interviews with three students, all of whom had dropped out of Accounting III at UFH, allowed the researcher interaction on a personal level with people not viewed as experimental objects but as human subjects. The findings revealed that the students‘ social and educational background, together with the language of teaching and learning not being their mother tongue, caused students great difficulty. Interaction between lecturers and students and the subject content proved very challenging due to the language barrier. The introduction of General Accounting III in the same class as Accounting III in 2009 compounded the students‘ confusion and this ultimately led to students feeling demotivated. These findings contributed significantly to an understanding of why these three students dropped out of Accounting III in 2009, and at the same time provided an answer to the research question relating to how Black students who dropped out of the Accounting III programme in 2009, experienced the course.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Truancy is such a problem that there is a need to investigate it. The act of truancy has both psychological and social consequences. It affects not only the individual truant adversely but also the people in his social environment. The ultimate purpose of the research is essentially practical: to help teachers, parents and others to address issues of non-attendance. The present research focuses on the possible role of parents in the incidence of truancy, since the family is basically a community of love. The present research displays a two-pronged approach. Firstly, a literature study is carried out on truancy as a phenomenon and on the role of parents in children's development. This serves as the substructure for the second component, namely the empirical investigation. Secondly, an empirical investigation is done. The empirical investigation in Mamelodi high schools, is part of a group project that utilizes a criterion-group-comparative-group research design with a nomothetic strategy, comparing truants' data with those of non-truants.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Educational Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The primary aim of this study was to investigate the growing rate of dropout phenomenon within the ambiance of higher education and to develop a support model for lower-postgraduate students. Anchored within Maxwell’s (2012) model of qualitative design, this case-study research has employed the deficit theory and the theory of transactional distance to guide the investigation. While the theoretical evidence was garnered through the application of traditional (narrative) literature review design, the empirical evidence was achieved by targeting lecturers, administrative officers and dropout students. These participants were only those who have respectively taught an advanced communication research (COM4809) module which is offered in the department of communication science as part of the honours programme, who have been involved into the administration of the module in the same department and who have dropped out of COM4809 between 2011 and 2016. Purposive selection technique was used to sample distinct units of analysis at various levels. At the first level, the University of South Africa (Unisa) was used as a case ODL university. At the second level, COM4809 was used as an ideal module to demonstrate that dropout is prevalent at an honours postgraduate level within the ODL domain. At the third level, lecturers were also purposively included into the study since they were key informants. With regard to administrative officers, a census approach was adopted to include the only two administrative officers who have been involved in the administration of COM4809 between 2011 and 2016. Dropout students were selected using snowball and purposive sampling techniques. While the purposive selection of dropout students from the given dataset (statistical information) of 219 dropouts, which was requested from the information and communication department (ICT), was used, the snowball selection method came into play when lecturers identified twenty-one dropout students from their personal records and furnishing the researcher with detailed contact information about them. However, the researcher has managed to hold focus-group interviews with a group of six dropout students and telephonic interviews with ten dropout students, summing up to 16 participants. Focus-group interviews were also undertaken with a cohort of eight lecturers while another seven lecturers have participated in the in-depth interviews. Data were analysed through the use of qualitative content analysis method, and O’Connor and Gibson’s (n.d) design viii    to analyse qualitative data was used. To ensure the credibility and dependability of findings, a triangulated approach to data collection and analysis were used. The study unveiled four major themes on dropout factors, namely: dropout factors associated with students’ personal circumstances, with lecturers’ personal circumstances, with institutional (academic) circumstances and with those factors which are determined by circumstances of other units of analysis (other research contexts). The study has further revealed that while the majority of factors can be controlled, others cannot. Based on the findings and the literature, an integrated honours student-centred support model (IHSCM) was developed to serve as a framework within which to understand dropouts of lower-postgraduate students in an ODL institution. Findings have demonstrated the importance of providing support services in an ODL environment and advocate for a holistic approach towards addressing attrition. The proposed model is envisaged to better expound dropout attributes, which lead students to discontinuing their studies in the ODL environment, and to assist ODL institutions to effectively address the concern. ODL institutions, which want to apply the proposed IHSCM, should do that with caution in mind owing to the fact that the model is not yet tested. Hence, it is inferable to suggest that future research should focus on its impact in the reduction of dropouts of honours students in ODL contexts.   Key words: Student dropout (attrition), dropout student, open and distance learning (ODL) institution, Higher education institution, distance education, student support intervention (services, intervention, mitigation strategy) and student support model (framework).

The objective of the study was to investigate learner drop-out and sustainable community development. The study was conducted in Kwazakhele Township in Nelson Mandela Bay. This study used qualitative research approach- interviews and structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the participants. The sample consisted of 40 respondents both Females and Males between the age 15 and 35 years. In Kwazakhele Township most of the youth are learner drop-outs who exited educational system before attaining National Certificate (Matric). This had an effect on the acquisition of skills for sustainable development. United Nations report on Sustainable Development requires members of the community to be able to handle matters concerning their own development. This means community members should possess skills that would enable them to cope with constant demands of development. In the same Kwazakhele Township the consequences of the learner drop-out phenomenon is that lot of girls get pregnant at an adolescence stage. In most cases the boys who impregnate these girls are not working, they themselves depend on their parents for living. Because of the poor socio-economic status and high rate of unemployment of households in the area, this result in a situation where both girl child and their babies depends on the old age social grant for basic needs such as food etc. These dropouts are political risks in a sense that they are sometimes being used in community protesting marches which are unnecessarily hindering community development projects aimed at enhancing and promoting general welfare including better life for all. So the study will investigate and examine effect of learner drop-out in the community and recommends on what to be done in order to address shortfalls and challenges faced by the Kwazakhele community members. This will enable local authorities to be proactive in establishing programs that brings directive and solutions to the existing problems.

Success rates remain a critical challenge in higher education. National and international data continue to suggest that the majority of students entering higher education withdraw before graduation. There is a strong indication in the literature that a student’s integration into the academic and social systems of higher education plays a critical role in student retention, persistence and success. In addition, research data demonstrates that student success is strongly influenced by the experiences students encounter in their first year of study. Established interventions have not helped to stem the tide of dropout rates. The primary aim of the study was therefore to investigate the academic and social integration of first-year students into the higher education system. The specific objectives were to explore the factors that contribute to academic and social integration, as well as the outcomes of academic and social integration in the first year of study. The study is grounded in Tinto’s theory of student integration, which holds at its centre, the constructs of academic and social integration. Tinto’s model proposes that academic and social integration are instrumental to students’ persistence in higher education. The methodology employed for the study is a systematic review, in an attempt to sum up the best available research in response to the research question. It involved identifying, selecting, appraising and synthesising all quality research relevant to the academic and social integration of first-year higher education students. Several themes emerged from the systematic review. The main factors found to be contributing to academic integration were: interaction with academic staff, classroom and curriculum centrality, preparatory education, self-efficacy, interaction with peers, academic engagement, motivation and issues related to first-generation higher education students. Those for social integration were: interaction with peers, sense of belonging and identity, interaction with staff, involvement and accommodation issues. The main outcomes for both academic and social integration were found to be student retention, persistence and academic success. The findings are consistent with past research on academic and social integration. Based on the emergent themes, recommendations were made with the aim of improving success rates in higher education. The results of the study could be of particular value in the South African higher education context by offering insights into the global and local trends with regard to academic and social integration. The findings could hopefully offer possible responses to current critical student success challenges experienced in South African higher education, especially in the light of the call by the #FeesMustFall movement for free and decolonised education.